Enmeshed
in two military occupations that have turned into well-publicized quagmires,
the Army and Marines are understandably having trouble enlisting new
recruits. Their answer: vastly increase the number of convicted felons
and other societal miscreants accepted into their ranks.

According
to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, from 2006
to 2007 the Army more than doubled its felonious recruits and the Marine
Corps increased its share by more than two-thirds. For example, some
entrants had convictions for crimes of dishonesty—including burglary,
robbery, and grand larceny—crimes of violence—such as aggravated
assault, arson, and “terroristic” threats, including bomb
threats—and sex crimes, such as rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse,
molestation, and indecent acts with a child. In addition, the two services
dramatically increased their “conduct waivers” for people
convicted of misdemeanors. Astonishingly, in fiscal year 2007, nearly
one in five Army recruits were brought in under waivers for felonies
and misdemeanors.

The
never-ending wars have also forced the Army to take larger numbers of
recruits who are older and less physically fit, have lower education
and aptitude, and have formerly disqualifying medical maladies. Also,
recently President Bush reduced the length of combat tours in Iraq from
fifteen months to twelve.

Although
this latter measure may help somewhat with military recruiting and retention
and gives soldiers a much-needed break from the stress of combat, it
is detrimental to winning a war against guerrillas. In such counterinsurgency
warfare, it is crucially important to win the hearts and minds of the
indigenous people. To do this, personal relations must be maintained
with the local leaders and warlords. Rotating people out of Iraq so
quickly may boost morale and recruiting, but it destroys such relationships.
The same happened with short tours in Vietnam.

One
problem is that when the U.S. is not fighting a war against what the
American public perceives as a dire threat (for example, the Nazis and
Imperial Japanese during World War II)—that is, the war is one
of choice, such as Iraq or Vietnam—the nation is unwilling to
make the sacrifices needed to win. In World War II, serving more than
twelve months overseas was not an issue.

Another
problem is that recruiting societal miscreants might especially impair
counterinsurgency warfare. Especially violent people, or those who don’t
properly control their behavior, might be adequate for all-out combat
against a conventional enemy, but would not be good at winning hearts
and minds. In fact, when faced with guerrillas who attack and then melt
back into the general population, these recruits might be more apt to
commit atrocities against the population.

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Finally,
the military would rather have such miscreants—some of them violent
criminals or felons who have committed sex-related crimes (as long as
they are heterosexual offenses)—in its ranks than it would gays.
The fact that openly gay people are still being kicked out of the military
does not create an enticing climate for gays to join, at a time when
the armed forces need every qualified person they can get. Similarly,
excluding women from serving on submarines (because of the allegedly
cramped quarters) and certain combat positions (because they are presumably
too frail) deters some athletic and qualified women from enlisting in
the ground and naval forces.

The
obvious solutions to all of these problems are to avoid unnecessary
brushfire wars and to change wacky military personnel policies that
undermine the all-volunteer military.

Ivan
Eland is Director of the Center
on Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute. Dr. Eland is a graduate
of Iowa State University and received an M.B.A. in applied economics and
Ph.D. in national security policy from George Washington University. He
has been Director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and
he spent 15 years working for Congress on national security issues, including
stints as an investigator for the House Foreign Affairs Committee and
Principal Defense Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. He is author
of the books, The
Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, and Putting
�Defense� Back into U.S. Defense Policy. Full Biography and Recent
Publications

The
never-ending wars have also forced the Army to take larger numbers of
recruits who are older and less physically fit, have lower education and
aptitude, and have formerly disqualifying medical maladies.